Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence, John Brady TD, has reiterated his calls for Israel to end its unjust and inhumane policy of administrative detention, and for the immediate release of hunger striker Khalil Awawdeh. 

Awawdeh has been on hunger strike for six months, and is currently close to death.

Teachta Brady said:

“Khalil Awawdeh is dying in an Israeli prison, where he was placed indefinitely, without charge, and without any evidence being presented against him.

“He is one of 670 Palestinians who are being held under draconian legislation which Israeli authorities to jail Palestinians indefinitely without charge, on the basis of ‘evidence’ that the prisoner’s legal representatives are not allowed access to.

“While I welcome calls by the international community for his release, the question has to be asked – when does the international community acknowledge that Israel has no interest in listening to appeals to end its human rights abuses of the Palestinian people?

“The time has long passed where we need to see real action. Israel needs to be held to account for its crimes

“Such is the extent, the duration, and the degree of oppression visited upon the Palestinian people by the state of Israel, that is only with periodic incidents, such as the murder of the American Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the bombardment of Gaza, do we hear comment.

“The daily harassment, settler and state violence, annexation of Palestinian lands, which have been labelled by the UN as akin to apartheid, barely register anymore with the international community. 

“Israeli aggression against Palestinians is so commonplace, it has become the norm. 

“The Irish government must immediately introduce the Occupied Territories Bill, and pressure the EU to take action that will impact against Israel’s human rights abuses.

“Words without action simply leave those who utter them complicit in their failure to act. We need to see action and we need to see it now.”